Monday, 2 September 2013

The 100 Masters exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery ended today. As a sort of commemoration of what was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the city's cultural scene this summer, I've put together a collection of a few works that particularly stood out for me, both for aesthetic and emotional reasons. '

(These are only a handful of the more than one hundred pieces featured in the exhibition, so I'm sure other people will have favourites that are entirely different from mine. Anyone who happens to come across this blog is free to leave a comment including some of their own favourites.)

Bertram Brooker, Sounds Assembling (1928)

Sounds Assembling's dynamic use of colour and lines almost seems like sensory overload at first, but once one gets accustomed to the work's unique aesthetics, the oddly luxurious hues of Brooker's work are quite inspiring. They give Sounds Assembling a depth that may not be immediately apparent for such an abstract piece of art.

Ocean Limited, Alex Colville (1962)

As technically the last work in the second-to-last gallery of the exhibit, Colville's work felt like an encapsulation of the emotions many of the artists in the previous galleries had worked to convey and capture.There are so many brilliant details in Ocean Limited that contribute to its sense of palpable tension, from the half-still, half-moving field of grain to the three-part structure, all of which are brought out further by the juxtaposition of words in the painting's name.

Robert Harris, The Local Stars (1888)The Local Stars perfectly captures a moment in time both entirely specific and remarkably universal. Having been in several choirs, both professional and amateur, over the years, I could identify the specific parts (musical and archetypal) played by each figure in Harris' work. More than that, though, I loved The Local Stars for its gentle humour -- that title practically demands to be used for a Garrison Keillor short story -- and keen observational eye. Harris originally planned for the male soloist to be comically hunched over his choir book; that the painter chose in the end to go with a more nuanced but still humorous pose demonstrates Harris' affection for these characters.

Lucius O'Brien, Sunrise on the Saguenay (1880)
There were many outstanding depictions of landscapes among the works in the 100 Masters exhibit, but few affected me like Sunrise on the Saguenay did. The towering, mist-wreathed cliffs and beautiful reflection of sun on water are the focal points of O'Brien's landscape, but the way each object in Sunrise seems suffused with light is what makes the paintingtruly come alive.

Michiel Sweerts, Self-Portrait with Skull (ca. 1661)

Self-Portrait with Skull was the work most prominently featured in the WAG's promotion for 100 Masters, so one could presume that the original painting itself might have lost some of its emotional resonance in the process. This was not the case. How Sweerts uses shadow and light to bring out the tragicomic elements of his composition - there's a staged, self-conscious aspect to the painting, but also a very real melancholy present - gives Self-Portrait with Skull an enduring power.

Monday, 26 August 2013

This is the second half of a look back at the best of Winnipeg’s 2012-13 arts season. The first post, which looked at the best classical music concerts in the city, can be read here.

As I noted in the first part of this series, Winnipeg is such a culturally-rich city that it's impossible to see everything - and, in rare cases, this doesn't apply to specific events, but to the kind of event you plan to go to.

When I had the idea for these two posts back in January, I knew that one would probably be about classical music, and I thought the other might be about theatre. It soon became clear, however, that I hadn't seen enough theatre, from enough companies, to make a comprehensive "best-of" list. I'd enjoyed the plays I'd seen at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, though, so I decided to create a retrospective of the plays at the RMTC's John Hirsch Mainstage and Tom Hendry Warehouse over the 2012-13 season.

As this is a personal list looking at an individual theatre company, I've labeled each category as "Most Outstanding" instead of "Best". I've also put plays and musicals together under Most Outstanding Production, purely for convenience's sake. As well, Assassins and Ride the Cyclone: A Musical both had ensemble casts, so actors and actresses from those two plays have been included in the Supporting categories.

In Gone With the Wind, Sarah Constible fully embraced playwright Niki Landau's daring interpretation of notoriously flimsy Melanie Hamilton Wilkes and made her a fully-realized human being just as strong as her friend Scarlett. In The Penelopiad, Constible was one of the highlights of an all-female cast that took on male roles when required in Margaret Atwood's retelling of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. Her performance as Odysseus was both an illuminating take on the character, and, when in disguise during the archery competition to win the hand of Odysseus' wife Penelope, a welcome source of comic relief.

4. Lora Brovold - Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway (A Few Good Men)While Joanne Galloway was the lone female character in A Few Good Men's otherwise all-male cast, playwright Aaron Sorkin and actress Lora Brovold made it clear that Galloway was not simply present to provide an additional perspective on the play's events. Brovold's assured, intelligent and nuanced portrayal of Galloway made for one of the most captivating and memorable performances in what was an impressive start to RMTC's 2012-13 season.

Of the six teenaged characters in Ride the Cyclone's cast, blonde overachiever Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg may have felt the most familiar to audiences, and therefore perhaps the easiest, or most irresistible, to caricature. Rielle Braid and the musical's writers, Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond, certainly poked fun at the character's most Tracy Flick-like mannerisms (Ocean's solo number was an uptempo litany of her myriad accomplishments), and her interactions with The Amazing Karnack, the snarky fortune-telling machine that served as the musical's narrator, provided some of Ride the Cyclone's biggest laughs. However, Braid never lost sight of the genuine compassion just beneath Ocean's competitive outlook, which made the character's final decision as to the fates of her fellow choristers even more emotionally resonant.

If it's possible for musicals to have "breakout characters," I feel like Ride the Cyclone's would be Constance Blackwood, due largely in part to Kelly Sue Hudson's powerful performance. Constance, burdened with the title of "nicest girl in town", second fiddle to her supportive but driven friend Ocean, seemingly destined to stay in Uranium City for the rest of her life, was among Ride the Cyclone's most complex characters. Constance's number "Sugar Cloud", which showed off Hudson's incredible pipes, was a high point in a musical filled with memorable numbers and performances. Hudson greatly impressed me the first time I saw the musical with a theatre full of people in their 20s and 30s, but when I saw Ride the Cyclone again, this time with an older audience, I was able to further appreciate the subtlety and dignity Hudson brought to the imbued the role.

1. Miche Braden - Mammy (Gone With the Wind)

It's not every day that an actor or actress gets to do a previously one-dimensional character justice. Miche Braden's dignified, independent Mammy lived up to Niki Landau's thrillingly and refreshingly complex interpretation of the character. Mammy's opening scene with young Miss O'Hara set the tone for the character's powerful arc, and her speech prior to leaving Scarlett in Act III made more than one audience member's eyes fill with tears. Braden'sperformance may have been the most compelling indication of Gone With the Wind's success as an adaptation and as an individual piece of theatre.

Most Outstanding Supporting Actor

5. Steve Ross - Charles Guiteau (Assassins)

Steve Ross' portrayal of Charles Guiteau, Andrew Garfield's killer, was one of Assassins' most satisfying performances. In a musical where dialogue mattered as much as lyrics, Guiteau's constant, aggressive declarations of his own importance were genuinely hilarious, even as they hinted at the troubled soul within. This approach culminated in the number depicting Guiteau's death, in which the fervently religious man sang "I Am Going to the Lordy" as every muscle and fibre in his body pulled him both toward and away from the steps leading up to the scaffold where his noose waited.

4. Kholby Wardell - Noel Gruber (Ride the Cyclone: A Musical)

As with several other characters in Ride the Cyclone's cast, Noel Gruber - an artistic gay teenager who feels like an outcast in the society he lives in, here the rural wasteland of Uranium City, Saskatchewan - had many familiar characteristics, but these were traits that Kholby Wardell and the musical's writers took great pleasure in turning on their heads. His rousing cabaret-esque solo number, a fantasy about living as a prostitute named Monique in 19th-century France, brought down the house both nights, but Wardell also hit quieter notes that echoed Gruber's own development over the course of the musical.

3. Elliott Loran - Ricky Potts (Ride the Cyclone: A Musical)

Ricky Potts was probably Ride the Cyclone's most ambitious character: a imaginative boy born with cystic fibrosis who, in the afterlife, is finally able to voice his dreams of being a "Space Age Bachelor Man." Ricky's gently self-deprecating nature was a pleasant surprise, and his love of comic books and video games appealed to the geeks in the audience; more than that, though, Loran masterfully conveyed Ricky's quiet realization that his newfound voice might not get to be heard by anyone in the land of the living.

2. Graham Abbey - Sam Byck (Assassins)

Of all the assassins in Stephen Sondheim and John Weiden's musical, Sam Byck, played by Graham Abbey, was probably most representative of the darkly comedic mood which ran throughout the musical. Abbey's sarcastic rendition of "Tonight" from West Side Story was hysterically funny, as was his blubbering impersonation of Richard Nixon, the president Byck tried to assassinate by flying a plane into the White House. What made Abbey's performance truly stand out among a universally excellent ensemble cast, however, was his chilling speech about the distinctions we create between good and evil - and how these categories may be more fluid than one might want to admit.

Paul Essiembre's performance as the domineering, intimidating Col. Jessep in A Few Good Men alone would have earned him a place on this list. Essiembre's role as the more subdued middle manager William Coles in Other People's Money, however, demonstrated a impressive range that proved to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the season. Coles, arguably the 'hero' of Jerry Sterner's script - although, in the world of Other People's Money, there may be no explicit good or bad, only context - was, personality-wise, worlds away from Jessup, but both men were grounded in a sense that their actions were ultimately for the best. Head below the break for the Most Outstanding Lead Actresses, Lead Actors and Productions.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

I've written two book reviews for the Winnipeg Free Press recently, and as with my previous reviews, I've collected them into a single post for ease of access. I'm actually rather proud of these two pieces; of the five reviews I've written so far this year, these are among my favorites.

One is a review of Vancouver playwright Mark Leiren-Young's memoir Free Magic Secrets Revealed. It's the tale of Leiren-Young's teenaged self in 1980 trying to impress a girl he has a crush on by creating a magic show with his friends. It's witty, compelling, and an ideal summer read. You can read my review here.

The other review is of American writer Stephen P. Kiernan's debut novel The Curiosity, about a man born in 1868 and frozen inside a glacier in the Arctic Ocean for more than a century. It's not particularly well-written, but the issues it explores are interesting and important in themselves. I expect a movie will be made of it in the near future. You can read my review here.

Here now are two short concerts, by artists I love, that I've found while browsing YouTube lately.

The first is a brilliant and energetic concert for by David Byrne and Annie Clark of St. Vincent from a tour supporting Love This Giant, the collaborative record they released last year (an album that ended up #2 on my best-albums-of-2012 list).

The second is a short but wonderful set by Eleanor Friedberger, frontwoman of the indie band The Fiery Furnaces. Friedberger released a solo album called Personal Record a month or so ago. It's a record full of summery, gorgeous pop songs, and has quickly become one of my favorite albums this year.

Saturday, 29 June 2013

This is the first half
of a look back at the best of Winnipeg’s
2012-13 arts season, focusing on classical music concerts in the city. The second half will list the
most outstanding plays and individual performances at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.

This was an exceptional year for classical music in Winnipeg, with a blend of internationally-acclaimed
artists and homegrown talent that, in my opinion, very few places in Canada can
offer. Winnipeg
is such a culturally-rich city that it’s impossible to see everything, but I
still managed to attend quite a few concerts, the best of which are listed below.

Yoon – one of Canada’s
most promising young cellists – came to Winnipeg
as winner of the 35th Eckhardt-Grammaté National Music Competition, and presented
a collection of contemporary pieces performed with remarkable maturity and
sensitivity. Of particular note was his mesmeric performance of Stigmata, a work by Vincent Ho,
Composer-in-Residence to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, who was present at
the concert. See my review here.

One of the most enjoyable concerts I went to this year. The
overall tone was buoyant and a little bit sly, but grounded in impeccable musicianship:
take, for instance, the duo’s rendition of Allegro
assai from Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 3
in C major with Wolak on clarinet and Donnelly on spoons. I also liked Donnelly’s
solo piece Henry’s Song and Dance, about
a real-life jazz club owner who booked Donnelly for a gig, went bankrupt and
then disappeared.

2. Sonia Chan, piano (Virtuosi
Concerts, March 2nd 2013)

I always look forward to solo piano concerts, but Chan’s
performance was extraordinary, perhaps even near-transcendent at times. She
took pieces already charged with emotion, such as Chopin’s Ballade no. 1 and Schubert’s Sonata in G major, and made them her
own with passionate interpretations that spellbound all in attendance. See my
review here.

LeBlanc and Taylor are two of the most in-demand Canadian
vocalists here and abroad, and the duo’s performances of arias, both alone and
together, were stunning from the concert’s start. However, it was Taylor’s riveting interpretation of Barbaro
traditor (Barbaric traitor), sung by the titular hero of Vivaldi’s Il Tamerlano, which brought the evening to
an entirely new level. From then on, each performance raised the bar a little
higher. LeBlanc gave a lovely rendition of the bright Qual candido fiore (What white flower) from Vivaldi’s Farnace, and was perfect as the despairing
Padmina in Handel’s Magic Flute;
Taylor showcased his versatility with the peaceful Ombra mai fu (A shade there never was) from Handel’s Serse. The two singers’ final piece was
the tender love duet Se il cor ti perde (If
my heart should lose you) from Handel’s Tolomeo,
but after a fifteen-minute standing ovation, Taylor and LeBlanc sang a
continuation of Handel’s aria, complete with a farewell kiss and tossing their
bouquets to the audience. A truly magical evening.

Head below the break for the Best Trio, Quartet, Choral Ensemble and Orchestra Concerts.

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Anyone who's stumbled across my blog over the past few weeks can see that I haven't been posting new content for a while now - my last post was over a month ago, and consisted of a March 24th concert review I had forgotten to put on here.

I've been writing a book review and working on a Best of Winnipeg Arts 2012-13 Season series of posts; the latter project has become particularly demanding. Not to mention that, after six months of winter, warm 20-degrees-Celsius-plus weather has finally arrived, and most days it's often far more appealing to spend time outdoors, especially when a torrential rainstorm could be right around the corner.

So, here are some things I wanted to get up on the blog, but haven't had the time:

I reviewed The Restoration Artist by Canadian writer and painter Lewis DeSoto for the Winnipeg Free Press. It's a novel with a compelling plot and is set in a very picturesque location - an island off the coast of Normandy. McNally Robinson Grant Park has almost an entire shelf of their New Fiction section dedicated to this book, so I'd say it's worth giving a look if you're interested in art, loss and memory. You can read my review online here.

Online pop culture magazine PopMatters has begun a series of essays examining Liz Phair's landmark 1993 album Exile in Guyville, song-by-song, in commemoration of the record's 20th anniversary. The essays are being written by Joe Vallese, who was a primary contributors to PopMatters' superb Performer Spotlight on Tori Amos last year, and I'm extremely impressed by what he's written so far. Even if you're unfamiliar with Phair's music (or not a fan), these essays are worth reading for their intelligence and insight into the creative process. The first article in the series is here.

Also on PopMatters is a piece by Zach Schoenfeld that talks about Eleanor Friedberger's brilliant, heartbreaking song "Other Boys," off her fantastic new album Personal Record. Both the album and "Other Boys" are serious contenders for my best-music-of-2013 lists. You can read the article here.

Finally, jazz/world music collective Pink Martini has put the first teaser trailer for their upcoming album Get Happy, due to be released on Sept. 24th, online. I'm looking forward to the record - it seems as though it may be a return to form for the band, whose 2007 album Hey Eugene! was one of my best albums of the 2000s.

Friday, 17 May 2013

Canzona’s 2012-13 season came to a satisfying close with a powerful
performance of J. S. Bach’s St. John
Passion at WestminsterUnitedChurch.The Passion,
an apt selection for a concert on Palm Sunday, featured an impressive cast
of soloists alongside the MusikBarock Ensemble, all ably conducted by Canzona’s
Artistic Director Henry Engbrecht.

The Passion depicts the events leading up to
the death of Jesus Christ as narrated by an Evangelist, here portrayed by
promising young tenor Jan van der Hooft. Baritones Mel Braun, Kris Kornelson
and Stephen Haiko – as Jesus, Pontius Pilate and Simon Peter respectively – rounded
out the main cast. While Bach’s work was written in German, the program
included an extensive translation of the text, which greatly enhanced audience
members’ appreciation of the piece.

Van der Hooft’s performance was the highlight
of the evening; he conveyed intense and often harrowing emotions with
near-perfect diction and impeccable tone.Braun’s sonorous voice and authoritative presence made him well-suited
to the role of Christ.

An
ambitious undertaking, the concert featured many of Canzona’s members at their
finest. Sarah Kirsch was captivating as a young believer with “I follow thee
also,” her joyous soprano soaring to the rafters of WestminsterChurch.
Kornelson was particularly strong as Pilate, his expansive and versatile
rendition perfectly capturing the character’s constant emotional dilemmas. Alto
Kirsten Schellenberg’s voice was gorgeously-shaded and heavy with feeling as she
echoed Christ’s final words, “It is accomplished.”

Marni Enns had perhaps the
most poignant aria of the night; over delicate flute and oboe, she imbued a
proclamation of Christ’s death, “Dissolve then, heart, in floods of tears,”
with exquisite and heartbreaking sorrow. The MusikBarock Ensemble, featuring
some of the finest chamber musicians in the city, provided masterful support
for the vocalists.

The
audience was invited to participate in the performance during two sections of
the work. Coached before the concert by Engbrecht, those present were able to display
their vocal skills and express the words of the Passion in its original language. The joined voices of the chorus
and a remarkably capable congregation resonated throughout the venue and allowed
one to connect with Bach’s masterpiece on a more intimate and personal level.

Virtuosi Concerts
Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall
April 6th 2013
Four and a half stars

Reviewed by Paul R.
McCulloch

There are few better ways to end a season of a chamber music
concert series than with a captivating performance by the Shanghai Quartet. The
internationally-renowned string ensemble’s recital capped off Virtuosi Concerts’
2012-13 season and also marked the Quartet’s thirtieth anniversary since its
formation in 1983. The series’ Artistic Director Harry Strub noted that
Virtuosi had spent the past ten years in a process to get the ensemble to
perform in Winnipeg,
making the evening feel even more celebratory. The Quartet – Weigang Lei and
Yi-Wen Jiang on violin, Honggang Li on viola, and Nicholas Tsavaras on cello –
thrilled a packed-to-the-rafters Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall with a display of
flawless musicianship paired with a delightful sense of humour.

The Quartet
opened with Haydn’s jubilant Quartet No.
53 in D major, Op. 64, No. 5, a piece frequently referred to as “The Lark
Quartet” for its light and easygoing nature. Opening movement Allegro moderato’s smooth, effortless
harmoniesimmediately won over the
audience, with the sweet and golden-hued tones of Adagio cantabile and Menuetto
allegretto only further enchanting listeners. Lei’s versatile violin and Tzavaras’
sonorous cello were particularly impressive in the passionate Finale vivace, where the four
performers’ strokes and plucks created a thrilling mosaic.

Shostakovich’s
dramatic Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op.
101 further confirmed the Quartet’s musical gifts in a more
emotionally-varied piece. Li showed great sensitivity during the subdued, waltz-like
Moderato con moto, and the ensemble’s
skillful navigation of Lento – Allegretto’s
hairpin shifts in mood and tempo was superb.

Dvorák’s Quartet No. 14 in A-flat major, Op. 105 tied together a subtle
theme of the evening – namely, a journey through several centuries of violin
music, from ‘grandfather’ Haydn to his modern successors. Adagio ma non troppo – Allegreo appassionato featured Jiang’s deft,
expressive bow work as well as gorgeous pizzicato by Tzavaras. The romantic Lento e molto cantabile was also a
highlight, a change in pace prior to the demanding and energetic Allegro ma non troppo, which grew in
intensity before culminating in one final, triumphant flourish.

It seemed
as if the Quartet had finished for the evening, but after a sustained standing
ovation and plenty of cheers from a smitten audience, the ensemble returned to
the stage to express their appreciation with a truly special encore: an
arrangement by Jiang of a Chinese folk song about a shepherd searching for his
lost love. The wistful and highly evocative piece, inspired by the vast steppes
of China’s northern provinces, was more than one could
ask for.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

On Saturday night, the Montreal-based Reiner Trio – violinist
Laurence Kayaleh, cellist Elizabeth Dolin and pianist Paul Stewart – gave Virtuosi
Concerts patrons the opportunity to hear some rarely-heard pieces, all by
Slavic composers. The evening was just what the doctor ordered for a seemingly
interminable winter in which the trio’s performances, so full of energy and
life, were enthusiastically welcomed by the Winnipeg audience.

Stewart
introduced Rachmaninoff’s Trio elegiaque
No. 1 in G minor, a dramatic and emotional start to what would prove to be
an immensely satisfying program, with a nod to the work’s elusive origins – the
piece was written in the last decade of the 19th century and went virtually
unnoticed until 1947, when its first edition was finally published.

Needless to
say, it was a thrill to hear. Kayaleh and Dolin’s urgent strings played both
with and against Stewart’s versatile piano, which navigated the piece’s
countless twists and turns with flair and ease. Each artist alone seemed to be
an organic extension of their instrument; together, the musicians’ chemistry
was magical.

The
intelligently-structured program gave each artist the chance to showcase their
abilities both individually and within the context of a trio. Stewart and Dolin
came together on Chopin’s Sonata in G minor
for Cello and Piano, Op. 65, which the composers collaborated on with,and dedicated the piece to, cellist
Auguste Franchomme. The opening Allegro
moderato established a dialogue between the two instruments, Stewart’s
nimble piano lines rising to meet Dolin’s dulcet cello tones as the two began
an exquisitely-composed courtship. Scherzo
– allegro con brio, which incorporated elements of a mazurka – a nod to Chopin’s
Polish heritage – featured beautifully complex and full-bodied work from Dolin,
who captured the uniquely modern style and spirit of the movement.

Largo, a love duet between two instruments, was
romantic and delightful; Stewart’s melodious piano played the part of a shy
gentleman resolved to win the heart of the headstrong woman embodied by Dolin’s
cello, a quest fulfilled in the movement’s final, gorgeous, faded notes. No
sooner had the audience caught their breath than the duo surged forward into
the lively Finale – Allegro, in which
dazzling bow-work and richly-hued piano built toward a triumphant and
ovation-worthy finish.

Kayaleh
joined Stewart for an exceptional rendition of Dvorák’s Four Romantic Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 75. These “four little
jewels,” as the violinist described them in an introduction, demonstrated
Kayaleh’s impressive range and intuitive command of her instrument. She made the
agile and powerful rhythms of Allegro
maestoso come alive, mesmerized the audience during the extraordinary Allegro appassionato –a movement that concluded with a
dazzling display of pizzicato – and, over Stewart’s fluid piano, brought the
intricate melancholy of Larghetto to
a place of pure emotion.

The trio came together once more for Anton Arensky’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32. Stewart
noted that the Russian composer wrote the piece two years after his pupil
Rachmaninoff’s death and dedicated it to the memory of cellist Karl Davydov.
Arensky’s work fittingly contained a breadth of moods and textures
representative of a lifetime. Scherzo –
Allegro molto featured a ‘music box’ texture, a light, playful feel and
brisk tempo, whereas Elegia – Adagio, an
elegy for Davydov, was mournful and touching. All this led to the energetic Finale – Allegro non troppo, where
violin and cello sang together as the three players raced forward to the piece’s
– and the evening’s – stunning close. Regrettably, no encore was offered.

Update 14/06/13: You can listen to CBC Radio 2's recording of this concert here.

Saturday, 6 April 2013

Don't let its smooth aesthetic fool you: Channel Orange is an incredibly complex record, both a highly personal chronicle and a series of vignettes about a disparate group of individuals in Southern California. Ocean has made a wholly satisfying work that rewards repeat listens, if only for songs like "Sweet Life" and "Thinkin Bout You" that feel timeless and current at once without really trying.

3. Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra, Theatre is Evil

Theatre is Evil could be seen as one of the year's most important, and most notable, albums for the way Palmer's raising $1.2 million dollars via Kickstarter to fund the record kindled a fervent discussion about the future of the music industry and the meaning of artistry in general. But such a title wouldn’t mean a thing if she didn’t have
the songs to back it up. Running the gamut from the blissful pop of "Melody Dean" and "Want It Back" to the intimacy of "Trout Heart Replica" and "The Bed Song", Theatre is Evil is so unabashedly emotional that it's a wonder it doesn't burst open at the seams. Palmer and her Grant Theft Orchestra compatriots Michael McQuilkin, Chad Raines and Jherek Bischoff create
a album full of thrilling twists and turns anchored by impeccable musicianship. If there ever was a 'feel-everything' record, it's this one.

2. David Byrne & St. Vincent, Love This Giant

The first thing one notices about Love This Giant is how unpretentious and fun it sounds. The second thing one notices is how intricate and intellectual its lyrics and arrangements are. The album takes its title from a Walt Whitman poem of the same name, and the album resonates with many of Whitman’s themes – the power of nature, the complexity of relationships, and the constant presence of humanity. Byrne and Clark walk a delicate tightrope between accessible and avant-garde, and while the care they put into Love This Giant alongside the sheer joy of collaboratingmay not be wholly apparent at first, the more one listens to the record, the more one takes away from it, and the more one falls in love.

1. Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do

The Idler Wheel sounds like nothing else I listened to this year - and, at the risk of making a broad statement - nothing else I've ever heard, from the hiss of steam pipes that propels “Jonathan” to the incisive metaphors of "Werewolf" and the delirious bliss of album closer "Hot Knife." Apple has created a singular and visceral work of genius that drags the listener into its emotionally uncompromising world, making one feel as if they're witnessing the act of the album's creation every time they press repeat.

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Virtuosi Concerts
Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall
March 2nd 2013
Four and a half stars

Reviewed by Paul R. McCulloch

It’s always a treat to hear the pure sound of the piano
unaccompanied by strings or woodwinds. On March 2nd, Canadian
pianist Sonia Chan reminded an enraptured audience at the Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall of her instrument’s potent ability. With a style at once polished and
genuine, Chan took emotional pieces and made them her own.

The evening
began with Bach-Busoni’s Wachet auf, ruft
unds die Stimme, BWV645, which began quietly and then blossomed into a more
lively middle section filled with dazzling high register runs and leaps from
one octave to another. Chan’s passionate interpretation and technical
virtuosity were immediately apparent. After the last notes of the Bach-Busoni,
Chan leapt uninterrupted into Haydn’s Sonata
in E-flat major, Hob. XVI:51, which featured spellbinding passages in the Allegro before settling into a more
contemplative mood with the melodic Adagio
and finishing off with a nimble and delightful Finale – Presto.

Her next
selections, Chopin’s first two Impromptus
– No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 29 and No.
2 in F-sharp major, Op. 36, were a joy to hear. Chan’s love for the Polish
composer showed in the way she made the pieces’ dark, powerful melodies her
own. Chan then treated the audience to a fiery performance of Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, a selection added to the
program in place of the final two Impromptus.

Chan noted after the concert that her
inclusion of the Ballade was a
personal choice inspired by ‘stormy’ feelings and the piece’s defiant,
courageous tone. The change made the evening feel like an intensely personal
and intimate encounter, a conversation between artist, composer and audience.

This
relationship was strengthened during Schubert’s Sonata in G major, Op. 78, D.894. The exquisite Molto moderate e cantabile felt like
poetry in motion with its smooth, lyrical passages interspersed with delicate
waltzes. Andante was heartfelt and dynamic;
Chan pulled off fiery cadenzas and feather-light interludes with style, a deftness
that carried over into the showstopping Menuetto
– Allegro moderato, bringing joy and sorrow together in a heady
combination, and the spellbinding Allegretto
as finale.

The audience rewarded Chan with a sustained standing ovation and many rapturous calls for an encore. In gratitude, she offered the gorgeous Von fremden Ländern und Menschen -"Of Foreign Lands and Peoples"-from Schumann's Kinderszenen. The gentle lullaby served as both a contrast to the dramatic Schubert and a wonderful end to a spectacular concert.

Update 08/05/13: You can listen to CBC Radio 2's recording of this amazing concert here.

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

I've had several book and concert reviews published in print and on the web in the last few weeks. I figured that it would be best to link to all of them in a single post for ease of access.

I reviewed Keeping Bedlam at Bay in the Prague Cafe by Budapest-based American writer M. Henderson Ellis for the Winnipeg Free Press. Keeping Bedlam at Bay is currently a featured book at McNally Robinson Grant Park and displayed alongside some literary heavy hitters (Richard Ford, for instance).You can read my review online here.

I also reviewed Wise Men by Stuart Nadler, an up-and-coming U.S. literary talent, for the Free Press. Despite its placid cover, the book is a great read and recommended for anyone interested in '60s and '70s America and the tumultuous events that were occuring at the time. You can read my review online here.

Image from vinceho.com.

I was delighted and incredibly honoured to learn that my review of the closing night of this year's New Music Festival has been added to the websites of Composer-in-Residence for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Vincent Ho, and legendary Scottish percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.

Ho and Glennie collaborated on a highly emotional piece, "From Darkness to Light: A Spiritual Journey," that premiered during the concert. The work, inspired by a friend of Ho's recent battle with cancer, was one of the most moving and powerful pieces I've ever heard. The Festival as a whole this year was spectacular, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Saturday, 23 February 2013

As seems to be the case with many of my favorite artists, I came across Slow Club entirely by accident. Slow Club, an English indie folk-rock duo comprised of Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson, has been compared to Fleetwood Mac and The White Stripes - the latter comparison has emerged from the fact that Taylor frequently plays drums and Watson frequently plays guitar. (They're not romantically involved, as far as I know, which seems to add to their chemistry rather than detract from it.)

In spring of last year, I was watching a live performance by British band The Clientele on the YouTube channel Bandstand Busking and, once the video was over, clicked on one of the links on the side. It led to this video from the same series, a performance of Slow Club's song "It Doesn't Have To Be Beautiful."

Recorded in 2009, the video led me to seek out the band's debut record, Yeah So, released that same year. I really enjoyed the album; everything that I'd liked about the video I watched - the duo's energy, their catchy melodies and lyrics that were charming but not overly sentimental - Yeah So had in spades. My first impressions of the band were reaffirmed as soon as I heard the album's opening track, the wonderful "When I Go."

Slow Club also put out a Christmas EP in 2009 called Christmas, Thanks for Nothing. Despite its pessimistic title, the record featured some festive covers and excellent originals, the best of which was the lovely "Christmas TV."

I then checked out the group's second album Paradise, released only the year before, and what had been a minor infatuation became a serious crush. Slow Club seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds within the short span of two years. "Where I'm Waking" in particular paired one of the best lyrical come-ons in recent memory - "I can see you looking at me / You've got the brains, I've got the body" with an infectious chorus and joyous instrumentation.

If I had come across the band earlier, Paradise would have been a definite contender for my top 10 records of 2011. I felt like Paradise transcended Slow Club's 'indie folk-rock' label with its incorporation of many unusual sonic elements, the burst of saxophone halfway through "Hackney Marsh" and the handclaps and electronic beats in "You, Earth or Ash" among them.

It appears that Taylor and Watson are in the process of recording a new album, and I can honestly say it's one of my most anticipated releases of 2013. How I came across Slow Club is a testament, I think, to the important role the internet plays in discovering bands and musicians one probably wouldn't have come across any other way.

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Few artists had more to prove this year than did Leonard Cohen. Old Ideas comes after a three-year world tour during which Cohen's songs became as popular as ever and "Hallelujah" grew to be the de rigeur song for everything from awards shows to funerals. When a new album was announced, it seemed a great deal more people were interested than there would have been four or five years ago.

Old Ideas takes all this into consideration while deftly dodging the label of "victory lap record" that seems inevitable for someone of Cohen's age. Wry, moving and at times unexpectedly funny, it's a record that reaffirms Cohen's brilliance as a songwriter while standing as a great record in its own right.

Saturday, 16 February 2013

The 2013 New Music Festival, honouring minimalist composer
Steve Reich, ended on a triumphant note with a concert of passionate, transformative
music reaffirming the importance and vitality of life.

The evening began with the world premiere of Vincent Ho’s From Darkness to Light: A Spiritual Journey,
a piece written for legendary Scottish percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. The
unveiling of From Darkness to Light marked
the second time the Composer-in-Residence for the WSO and Glennie have collaborated
on a world premiere of his work, and expectations were accordingly high. Ho,
Glennie and the WSO, conducted masterfully by Alexander Micklethwaite, did not
disappoint.

Ho was inspired to write the highly emotional piece after
the death of his friend, artist Luc Leestemaker. During his introduction
Saturday night, Ho noted that several months after Leestemaker’s death from
cancer, the composer and his wife welcomed a baby daughter into the world, and
this movement from death to birth, from sadness to hope, mirrored the work’s
emotional arc.

From Darkness to Light
began quietly and calmly with gentle lead-in by Glennie, who, surrounded by
a variety of drums and other percussion instruments, created a focal point on
the stage. Her drums and xylophones softly and steadily grew in intensity and
tempo until a moment where, amid the orchestra’s persistent rustling of sheet
music and high string notes, Glennie let out a single anguished cry of
“No!”

Ho’s technique brilliantly evoked the moment when a cancer
patient first learns of their diagnosis and finds themselves unable to accept
their condition. Glennie and the orchestra then leapt into a visceral, dramatic
section, mesmerizing the audience with their impassioned and dynamic playing.

As the piece came towards its conclusion, paintings by
Leestemaker began to appear on a screen at the back of the stage, accompanied
by the hopeful and stirring voices of cellos and violins. Glennie stepped forward
to a marimba and, bathed in a silvery glow, began to play her own meditative
composition, “A Little Prayer.”

As she paused to let the last few vibrations of the
instrument dissolve, it seemed as if the entire packed concert hall was engaged
in one single, potent moment of silence shared with her.

The New Music Festival audience rewarded the artists with a
sustained and heartfelt standing ovation as many listeners fought back tears,
overwhelmed by the powerful emotions of the piece.

Coming after the unqualified success of Ho’s work, it seemed
almost impossible that Reich’s The Desert
Music, performed in collaboration with The Winnipeg Singers,could have half the same impact – and
yet the piece, inspired by the American poet William Carlos Williams, was
equally as riveting and emotionally intense.

A group of string players, forming a half-circle around
Micklethwaite’s podium, began the composition with a comforting,
folk-influenced motif. The Winnipeg Singers soon joined in, delivering excerpts
from Williams’ poetry in beautiful and crystal-clear tones; the recurring
statement “man must change or perish” gave the choir’s melodies a dark, even
chilling undercurrent.

Despite having been written in the 1980s, Reich’s work felt deeply
moving and remarkably prescient. The WSO’s choice to perform this particular
piece proved a fitting and timely reflection on humanity’s most acute dilemmas
in the 21st century. Their masterful rendition of the piece met with
the approval of its composer, who came up on stage to receive enthusiastic accolades
from the audience.

As the closing piece of the concert series, The Desert Music was a brilliant
reminder of the relevant, challenging and inspirational role the festival plays
in the artistic life of our city.

January 5th saw Virtuosi Concerts present to its
audience the much-anticipated Magellan Ensemble. The Montreal-based quartet – Olivier
Thouin on violin, Yukari Cousineau on viola, Yegor Dyachkov on cello and Jean
Saulnier on piano – brought a singular level of intensity and passion to the
Eckhardt-Grammate Hall.

Schubert’s Allegro from the String Trio in B-flat major, D. 471, performed by Thouin, Cousineau
and Dyachkov, provided a light and wonderful prelude to the works presented by
the full quartet; it immediately demonstrated the strings’ deft touch and
remarkable synchronization.

Saulnier joined his colleagues for
Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor,
Op. 60, a four-movement work inspired in part by the composer’s unrequited
love for Clara Schumann. The Allegro non
troppo began with a mournful swell of strings backed by a constant atonal
backdrop of the piano before it swept the audience away in its sheer passion
and intensity and ending on a quiet, desolate note. Scherzo – Allegro was romantic and insistent, with sparkling piano
riffs by Saulnier and intricate work by Cousineau. The following Andante had each player demonstrating their
individual skill before coming together in a divine blend of moods and textures
accented by gentle pizzicato.

The spell cast over the audience continued into
the Finale – Allegro comodo, where
one could hear a pin drop as a series of rounds quietly rose and fell then broke
into a frenzied rhythm. Saulnier’s flowing piano work urged his fellow players
on towards the piece’s triumphant final notes, after which the audience
rewarded the quartet with the first sustained ovation of the night.

Gabriel
Faure’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor, Op.
45 took an alreadymemorable
eventto a new level. Where Brahms’
piece had worked in contrasts, Faure’s piece developed a single musical idea
over the course of its four movements. Allegro
molto moderato opened with fiery piano chords before settling into a more
romantic middle section accentuated by brief tense flashes of viola. Allegro molto demonstrated Saulnier’s
masterful technique, navigating a series of high register scales with ease. Allegro non troppo was quieter and even
more beautiful; Saulnier’s piano, backed by lush strings, brought to mind the
church bells of a faraway village. The movement concluded with gentle
fingerwork that led into the powerful opening notes of the Allegro molto, in which the quartet, led on by Thouin’s violin,
grew in intensity and speed before a dazzling, fiery round of pizzicato brought
the piece to a close and the audience to their feet. Unfortunately, despite the
standing ovation, no encore was offered. One more piece, no matter how short, would
have made an already marvelous program even more satisfying.

Dyachkov’s enlightening comments
during the performance enriched the audience’s understanding and appreciation
of the program. The concert was recorded by CBC Radio 2 to be broadcast as part
of their classical music offering. Virtuosi Concerts has once again succeeded
in bringing to their patrons a truly superb degree of artistry.

Update 14/06/13: You can listen to CBC Radio 2's recording of this concert here.

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

On Sunday, Nov. 25th, the Women’s Musical Club of
Winnipeg presented a recital by cellist Brian Yoon, winner of
the 35th annual Eckhardt-Grammaté National Music Competition. Yoon,
accompanied by Eliza Ching on piano, introduced the audience at the Muriel
Richardson Auditorium to a dramatic collection of contemporary pieces as part
of a 2012 E-Gré sponsored national tour.

The
afternoon began with String Theory by
John Burge, the work specially composed for this year’s Competition. From its
hypnotic initial notes onwards, the piece demonstrated Yoon’s outstanding
musical skills. The long, sustained strokes of the opening bars gave way to the
stirring tremolos and glissandos of the middle section, with Yoon and Ching
both impressing the audience with their masterful finale. Ching in particular
handled a demanding piano pizzicato interlude with aplomb, and the superb
quality of the duo’s first selection set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Yoon
introduced the next piece, Sonata for
Cello and Piano, Op. 143 by Francis Poulenc, as particularly notable for its
wide emotional and technical range. The work, comprised of four movements –
“Tempo di Marcia,” “Cavatine,” “Ballabile,” and “Finale” – featured lively,
playful and romantic tones coupled with a highly rhythmic and invigorating
structure. Poulenc’s gorgeously shaded piece, highlighting Yoon and Ching’s
perfect synchronicity, ended with a single lighthearted pluck of Yoon’s cello
strings.

The following
selection, Prayer and Dance of Praise by
Elizabeth Raum – written for the 1997 E-Gré Music Competition – lent a satisfying
sense of continuity to the concert’s program. The piece, imbued with a sense of
longing and deep spirituality, drew its inspiration from Middle Eastern folk
melodies that the composer heard as a child at her Syrian grandmother’s family
gatherings. Prayer and Dance of Praise featured
an impressive array of dynamics, allowing Yoon and Ching to shine as they both
deftly navigated the piece’s rapid changes in tempo and tone.

The most anticipated
work of the event was perhaps Stigmata by
Vincent Ho, Composer-in-Residence to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, who was
also present at the concert. Commenting on the selection, Yoon noted that
mastering the work, performed without accompaniment, has made him a more
confident and mature player.

Charged with a sense of loneliness and anguish, the
work was originally written for cellist Jakub Omsky after tragic events in the
lives of both the dedicatee and the composer. Stigmata juxtaposed expressive strokes that sounded remarkably like
a human voice with periods of frenetic, evocative fingerwork and concluded with
a prayer-like section featuring gentle harmonic tremolos. The audience was
spellbound.

The last piece
of the program, “…and dark time flowed by
her like a river…” by Gary Kulesha, inspired by a novel by Thomas Wolfe, featured
the best piano work of the afternoon. Ching provided both a roiling
undercurrent to Yoon’s darkly rhapsodic tones and exquisite solos of her own. Piano
and cello seemed to race each other to the final exhilarating notes of the
concert, earning a standing ovation from the enraptured audience.

Sunday, 27 January 2013

On December 9th, Virtuosi Concerts welcomed
pianists Kyung and Michael Kim to their stage. Together with the Winnipeg Symphony
Orchestra Chamber Players, the couple treated audience members to a charming
‘potpourri’ of romantic music. Michael Kim served as emcee, and his thoughtful
comments on each of the offerings proved to be entertaining and educational,
particularly for the many young concert patrons in attendance.

Virtuosi Artistic Director Harry
Strub introduced the event, noting that the performance was taking place during
the holiday season, and the event had an ambiance appropriately filled with festive
cheer. Many of the chosen pieces by Schumann, Rachmaninov and Mendelssohn
seemed inspired by hopefulness and love.

The afternoon began with Kyung
Kim’s solo rendition of Haydn’s Sonata in
C minor, Hob. XVI/20, a lively piece that set the tone for the remainder of
the concert. The Chamber Players then joined Michael Kim on stage to perform
Bach’s Concerto for Keyboard and Strings
in F minor, which featured a gorgeous pizzicato interlude from the WSO
violins. The Chamber Players accompanied the Kims throughout the concert, and
their rendition of the second movement of Chopin’s Piano Concert No. 1 in E. minor, Op. 11 with Michael Kim was
particularly outstanding.

Both pianists were able to
demonstrate their unique talents during the program. Kyung Kim offered a pure
and flawless interpretation of a selection from Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words: Op. 19, No. 1 in E
major. Michael Kim’s solo performance of Liszt’s Paraphrase de concert sur Rigoletto was similarly superb.

As a finale, the Kims performed
Rossini’s Overture to Barber of Seville, with
four hands, on the piano. The piece, well-known from the Bugs Bunny cartoon Rabbit of Seville, was a crowd-pleaser,
and made for a joyous finale to a lovely afternoon of music imbued with humour,
happiness and romance.

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Canzona
Crescent FortRouge United Church
October 28th 2012
Four and a half stars

Reviewed by Paul R. McCulloch

On October 28th, Winnipeg’s
Canzona treated an audience at CrescentFortRougeUnitedChurch
to an evening of warmth, light, and wonderful music. Accompanied by the
MusikBarock Ensemble under the baton of Eric Lussier, the choral ensemble
performed Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa votiva
ZWV 18 and Bach’s Cantata BWV 80 Ein
feste Burg, or A Mighty Fortress is
Our God. Crescent Fort Rouge United, with its intimate setting, served as a
refuge from the cold October weather and was the perfect venue for this
performance.

The evening began with Zelenka’s Missa votiva. Zelenka, a seventeenth-century
Czech composer, wrote the piece as a form of gratitude to God after recovering
from a lengthy and near-lethal illness. The music, “offered as a special
intention," felt accordingly charged with energy and devotion. The piece was
comprised of five parts, with the Kyrie and
Gloria opening the concert and the Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei performed after intermission.

The first half of the Missa featured several solo
performances, with soprano Marni Enns’ lovely, shaded take on “Qui tollis peccata mundi”and
bass Paul Wiens’ subtle rendition of “Quoniam
tu solus Sanctus”as highlights. A “Kyrie eleison” quartet,
comprised of alto Kim Brown, tenor Doug Pankratz, bass Kris Kornelson and
soprano Sara Clefstad – who shone in her debut as a soloist with the ensemble –
provided a further showcase of Canzona’s vocal abilities. The Gloria felt lively and spirited, with
the vivacious melodies of “Gratias agimus” and “Gloria in excelsis Deo” bringing
to mind the folk dances of Zelenka’s homeland.

The Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei sections of Zelenka’s work captivated the
audience with a feeling of spiritual depth and sincerity. Soprano Zohreh
Gervais expressed the devotional nature of the Sanctus with her beautiful interpretation of “Benedictus."

While dividing Zelenka’s work into two
sections may have seemed unusual, the choice was a wise one, allowing for a
stunning ending to the concert. The Credo
in particular was exuberant and energetic, with its last words, “Et vita
ventum saeculi,” rising to the rafters in a thrilling crescendo of intricate
harmonies and passionate bow-work.

Bach’s A Mighty Fortress is Our God, the second
selection of the program, found the ensemble taking full advantage of the unique
atmosphere of the venue. Soprano Sarah Kirsch impressed in her aria “Komm in
meines Herzenshaus," while, in a personal and thoughtful touch, the listeners were
invited to sing along with the chorus during “Und wenn die welt voll Teufel wär."Coached by Eric Lussier prior to the
performance, the surprisingly adept and boisterous audience did a fantastic
job, lending a festive ambiance to the concert.

The evening was an artistically
superb and emotionally resonant event. Speaking after the concert, Artistic
Director Henry Engbrecht commented that the Missa
votiva’s power reflected Zelenka’s sheer joy at being alive and able to
continue his artistic vocation. The vitality of the ensemble’s performance was
a perfect fit for the composer’s intention.

It’s a shame that Canzona has only
one other performance this concert season, but if this evening is any indication,
it will be another highlight of Winnipeg’s
classical music scene.

Thursday, 17 January 2013

On October 13th, Virtuosi Concerts was delighted
to present the New Orford String Quartet, a Canadian ensemble comprised of
Jonathan Crow and Andrew Wan on violin, Eric Nowlin on viola and Brian Manker
on cello. The New Orford takes its name from the legendary Orford String
Quartet, a chamber music institution that grew to be an integral part of Canada’s
musical community over its twenty-six-year career. Since its debut three years
ago, the New Orford String Quartet has been the recipient of critical acclaim
and rave reviews across the world.

The evening
began with Haydn’s String Quartet No. 4
in D major, Op. 20, a piece whose diverse array of moods and textures
proved a fitting introduction to the Quartet’s musical dexterity. The Allegro di Molto was lively and
captivating, while the Un poco Adagio
Affettuoso, featuring Wan’s violin, sounded melancholy and smooth as silk. The
vibrant Allegretto alla zingarese –
“in gypsy style” – gave Manker’s cello a chance to shine with dazzling bow work.
Presto scherzando – “light and
playful” – was wonderfully dramatic, with its frequent shifts in tempo
masterfully executed by the four musicians.

The program
continued with String Quartet No. 1, Op.
19 by Quebecois composer Jacques Hétu, one of the most esteemed figures in
modern Canadian classical music. Nowlin introduced the work, noting that it was
originally written for the Orford String Quartet, setting high expectations for
the piece. The Allegro, built around
a canon,showcased the Quartet’s fluidity
as the movement’s central melody was passed seamlessly from one player to the
next. The Andante started out as
smooth and lyrical, but soon built to a furious climax that left one
breathless. The stunning third movement, the Vivace, was a truly thrilling demonstration of both the Quartet’s
skill and Hétu’s compositional ingenuity; introduced as a scherzo, it featured ponticello,
a technique involving playing close to the bridge, which creates an icy, glassy
sound in the process. The concluding Allegro
brought together the themes in the form of a fugue, ending with one
sustained and spellbinding note.

In the last
piece of the program, Brahms’ String Quartet
No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51, Crow took
the lead, steering the Quartet through a multi-textured, shaded Allegro and the soothing Allegretto, which, with its
simple, repetitive motif, brought to mind the lullabies Brahms is most famous
for. The piece featured a more assertive cello part than those written by Haydn
and Hétu, allowing for the use of some unexpected percussive effects. Manker took
full advantage of the lovely, sweet Romanze
poco adagio, where his strumming of the cello provided enchanting baroque-style
flourishes. Following a standing ovation, the Quartet returned to the stage for
a spirited rendition of the final movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E major, Op.59.

Those in the packed-to-the-rafters
Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall seemed especially taken by the truly imaginative, fresh sound
of the Quartet. In particular, the artists’ choice of repertoire and their use
of many inventive techniques were major contributions to their captivating
performance. Speaking after the concert, Nowlin noted that the quartet actively
seeks to ensure that each piece “exists in its own sonic space." The ensemble’s
contemporary sound is accomplished in part by the artists’ “restrained use of traditional
long strokes and vibrato," an approach seen most clearly in their classical
selections. The Virtuosi audience appeared to have enthusiastically approved of
these stylistic choices. New Orford’s powerful and intricate sound makes one
feel that the Quartet’s musical predecessors would have been equally as
delighted and impressed.